Man charged in crash that killed daughter, 5

Prosecutors filed manslaughter and drunken-driving charges Tuesday against a San Juan Capistrano man accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter in a crash.

Antolin Brito Soto, 32, appeared in a courtroom at the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana on Tuesday afternoon. His arraignment was postponed until April 25, and a judge set bail at $100,000 and appointed the Public Defender’s Office to represent him.

Soto had been hospitalized since the March 22 crash and was unable to appear in court until Tuesday. He was present for the hearing but could not be seen on the television screen in the public viewing area.

In a four-count complaint filed in court, Deputy District Attorney Anna McIntire says Soto’s blood-alcohol content was .18 at the time of the crash, more than twice the legal limit.

If convicted of all charges and sentencing enhancements, Soto would face a maximum of 20 years in prison, the District Attorney’s Office said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department said the crash in San Juan Capistrano killed 5-year-old Yuliana Brito and injured three other children between the ages of 2 and 11.

The crash happened just before 7 p.m. as Soto was driving on Junipero Serra Road approaching Camino Capistrano, the Orange County Fire Authority said. When the road ended, the OCFA said, Soto’s vehicle kept going through the parking lot of a senior-living home and over an embankment before landing on rocks in a small creek.

Emergency workers tried to resuscitate Yuliana, but she was pronounced dead at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo just after the crash. Soto was arrested that night while in a hospital bed at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

In addition to manslaughter, he’s accused of driving on a suspended license after a prior DUI.

Soto also was charged in 2011 with driving without a valid license. Because of the seriousness of the new charges, prosecutors dismissed that charge and related traffic citations Tuesday, along with a 2010 charge of urinating in public in San Juan Capistrano.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Superior Court Judge Craig Robison said Soto has an “immigration hold,” though details were not clear. A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said he had no more information on Soto’s immigration status.

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